Miss Eng’g: Blast from the Past

A Miss Eng’g Contestant

Femulate readers may be familiar with the fabulous Miss Eng’g (Engineering) womanless beauty pageant at the College of Engineering, University of Philippines-Diliman. I have written about the pageant in the past, but not so much lately.

Over the weekend, a former pageant contestant commented on a Miss Eng’s post from 2011. Since most current readers will not see that post or the recent comment, I am repeating it here.

Anonymous left the following comment:

I always wondered if the “girls” were experienced in dressing before the event, or did they do this for the 1st time. I remember reading an article about one of the girls and their girlfriend helped them out, but looking at some of the girls they are quite experienced looking.

Our weekend commenter responded:

I was a Ms Engg contestant myself but in early 2000s. I wore my female cousin’s 18th birthday gown. It was very uncomfortable because the dress was so tight I almost couldn’t breathe (my mother made me wear a girdle (?) because I had beer belly for me fit into the gown). Not to mention walking/standing on heels. I had fun though as it was my last semester of uni so it was like me saying goodbye to college life with a bang.

Lucky guy!

Wearing StyleWe

Marian Andersen, a Femulate reader and femulator

Origin of Womanless Beauty Pageants

Womanless weddings, often staged by men’s civic and fraternal groups, were popular entertainment in the U.S. southern states prior to the advent of television. They consisted of a mock wedding in which males crossdressed in the roles of the entire wedding party, including the bride, mother of the bride, bridesmaids, flower girl and female guests. These events were often fundraisers, since many in the community were more than willing to pay admission to see their male neighbors in female attire. (Sources: Wikipedia and NCpedia)

Womanless weddings predated womanless beauty pageants. 

Schools, always looking for ways to raise funds and to keep the student body busy (idle hands are the devil's workshop), noticed the popularity and success of womanless weddings and were inspired to do something womanless in the educational realm. And mid-20th Century, someone came up with the idea of holding beauty pageants with boys crossdressing in the roles of female contestants. 

The earliest womanless beauty pageant that I can find was in 1947, a “Boys’ Beauty Contest” put on by Cradock High School in Portsmouth, Virginia (photo above). Evidently, the Boy’s Beauty Contest was popular and it became an annual event at Cradock High School through the early 1950s. [Note that there were earlier school events in which boys dressed like girls (e.g., Halloweens, plays, fashion shows, follies, burlesques, musicales, etc.), but as far as womanless pageants per se, the 1947 Cradock High pageant was the earliest.]

Eventually adults got into the picture and womanless beauty pageants replaced womanless weddings as surefire fundraisers. Inexplicably, just like womanless weddings, womanless beauty pageants are more popular in the U.S. southern states than anywhere else.  

My research is dependent on over 4700 womanless pageants that Femulate contributor Starla Trimm tirelessly culled from online high school yearbooks, so it is possible that there were earlier womanless pageants that are not documented online. If you know of an earlier womanless beauty pageant, please let us know what you know.

Using those 4700 pageants, I calculated the popularity of pageants between 1947 and 2019. Growth was slow in the 1950s (55 pageants) and began to pick up speed in the 1960s (310 pageants). The heyday for pageants was the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s with 1145, 1709 and 969 pageants respectively. The next century saw a dramatic drop-off in popularity with only 437 pageants in the 2000s and 44 pageants in the 2010s. 

Mine is not a precise calculation because not all high school yearbooks are accessible online and some pageants may not have been documented in any yearbooks at all. But even my imprecise calculations illustrate the rise and fall of womanless beauty pageants’ popularity.

Transphobia and homophobia (on the right) and political correctness (on the left) probably account for the drop. 

And so it goes.

Wearing Boston Proper

The 1950 installment of the Boys’ Beauty Contest at Cradock High School in Portsmouth, Virginia

Bras and Balloons

His, Hers & Ours Dept.

I mentioned Monday how I was fooled by an email advertisement for His & Her bras. Mikki sent me an antidote for my foolishness: a company that specializes in bras for women with small breasts that is reaching out to the trans community. Click here to read all about it. 

Not To Do List Dept.

I am a womanless beauty pageant snob. Here is a list of things that cause me to discount a contestant in a womanless beauty pageant.

👠 Facial hair

👠 Leg hair

👠 Arm hair especially underarm hair (yuck!)

👠 Male haircut (rather than wearing a wig or styling male hair in a feminine manner)

👠 Cheap Halloween wig

👠 Male footwear

👠 Bare feet

👠 Flip-flops

👠 Fondling his fake breasts or worse, fondling another contestant’s fake breasts

👠 Balloons as fake breasts that are clearly visible as balloons

👠 Acting like a buffoon

Wearing Boston Proper

Rachel out and about ordering a drink

Womanless Beauty Pageants

By Jasmine

I have discovered on various other sites the phenomenon known as the Womanless Beauty Pageant (WBP). Males of all ages, but the contestants seem to be predominantly boys of school age and younger, parade about in pretty dresses and heels and wear wigs and makeup in the hope of winning a tiara and sash.

The vast majority of them look very convincing as girls!

What a truly wonderful concept and what a great way to get boys into femininity! The hardest obstacle – initially getting a boy to wear anything that he associates as being girly – is overcome with gentle encouragement and the assurance that he won’t be the only boy wearing a dress. 

Once the boy is fully dressed up as a beauty queen, he will soon get used to the strange experience of suddenly having a skirt swishing around his legs, balancing and wobbling in high heels, having long hair, wearing clinking, pretty jewelry and wearing cosmetics and even find it fun, especially once he joins the other “ladies” and compares how he looks alongside them.

He will find out that he can be as pretty and feminine as any girl and will gain an insight into femininity. He may, hopefully, want to enjoy the experience again and, overcoming his embarrassment and male pride, be brave enough to ask his mother to furnish him with a new wardrobe for him to explore and appreciate his girlish nature. 

Boys (and men) of all ages should be actively encouraged to take part in a WBP. This is a great way to begin to get males to become more feminine and will perhaps give the significant females in their lives, seeing how pretty their men and boys can be with a little effort, ideas about keeping them that way! 

As far as I can see, the WBP was born and is practiced in the USA at present, but I hope that the WBP will soon be imported to the UK, Europe and the rest of the world. Imagine how much better the world would be with males concentrating on trying to be Miss World rather than trying to dominate the world. 

I for one would love to take part in one when they arrive over here and will happily put on my gown and high heels.

(This post originally appeared in Jasmine's blog, Gender Role Reversal.)

Wearing New York & Company

Eamon Farren femulating in the Australian television-film Carlotta.
You can view the entire film on YouTube (I highly recommend it).

Friday Femulations

Trans Book Report

Without Shame, Learning to Be Me by Connelly Akstens is an excellent book containing life vignettes on a wide range of topics (“many odd experiences, some stunning misadventures and the acquaintance of many quirky people”), but they are often related to the author’s life long struggle with gender dysphoria. 

“For most of my life I lived in the shadow of shame. I was afraid there would be terrible consequences if anyone discovered my gender confusion. Who would want to be my friend? How would I have a career? Who would love me?”

Sounds familiar, but the book is hardly familiar. It is unlike any other transgender book I have ever read – it’s the transgender book I wish I had written. 

You can purchase Connelly’s book from the author's website with free shipping and a free inscription as you’d like it. The book is also available from Amazon.

Squeaky Redux

Thank you all for the kind words about the passing of Squeaky. I really appreciate it.

The hardest part of her death was when I looked at her for the last time, closed the lid on her “casket,” placed the box in the hole I had dug and began shoveling dirt on top of her box.

Very hard.

Mother and Son Redux

If you don’t read the blog comments, here is what you missed when Anonymous asked, “Is that really a young femulator in the last pic?” referring to the Mother and Son photo on my Mother’s Day post.

The son in the photo was a contestant at a womanless beauty pageant. There are other photos of him/her in the usual places on the Internet (like here and here), but I selected the rear view photo because I thought it was so touching for Mother's Day.

Wearing Unique Vintage

Contestants in the 2013 womanless beauty pageant at the University of Aconcagua in Calama, Chile. In my opinion, the contestants in this pageant were femulators par excellence. You can view the introduction of the contestants on YouTube.

Throwback Thursday: Ms. Engineering 2011

The following comment to a post from December 2011 came across the Mojo Wire yesterday. It came from the winner of the 2011 installment of the spectacular Miss Eng’g womanless beauty pageant, which I wrote about here on a number of occasions. I decided to use the comment as a new post because you would have likely missed it at the bottom of a 9-yar-old post.

Hi, it's Ms. IE Club 2011.

I stumbled upon this page again because a friend was trying to search for our Ms. Engineering photos haha. Sadly, this blog and other YouTube videos are the only remaining memories of our Ms. Engineering batch because our Facebook page got deleted :/

I thought I could share with you my personal experience in joining and winning the crown. Our batch was probably the most famous one because we had one candidate that went viral because she looked like one of the famous actresses at that time (i.e., M.s GPs looking like Melissa Ricks).

I'd just like to echo Shukun, pretty much what Shukun thought about me was spot on. (See Shukum’s comments after this post.)

Preparation for the pageant was fun and challenging; practicing my catwalk in heels (I watch VS fashion shows as reference. Hello Candice!), learning how to dance and soften my hips (how do you even shake it like Beyonce), as well as braving the dreaded waxing day (yep, from shoulder to toe).

I was never the prettiest/hottest/cutest candidate out there. My pre-pageant pics were so-so (see photo above). Ms. GPs and Ms. KEM were really the famous ones there in terms of the pre-pageant photos. So coming into the pageant night, I knew I had my back against the wall.

Personality-wise, what I opted for is a bubbly and sassy lady on-stage. I knew I can pull that off since I'm somewhat like that in real life so it seems natural plus I just didn't have that sexy look as well as looking fierce so no point in trying to push for that. With my looks, I would say I was really pretty haha

During the pageant night, I just made sure that everyone notices me no matter where I am in the stage. I made cute perky waves to the crowds and the judges. Even if I was behind a line, I would point and wave to anyone I saw looking at me (of course not excessively to the point that your an attention grabber).

During my catwalk, I guess watching hours of VS really helped and I was able too pull off those twirls and sassy poses. My talent was just right... as I said I wasn't a dancer and add to that the contestant before was so famous and had a great number. Hard to follow on that.

Announcement of the Top 5 was nerve-wracking. Ms. GPs and I were the only ones left vying for the 5th spot. As expected almost everyone (except for my org) were cheering for Ms. GPs to get in. Also, did not help that I came from the most hated engineering org, so everyone was really against me. I was thinking “please make this a Top 6.” There was not a Top 6, but I was the one selected to be part of the Top 5.

QA time. I didn't think I would win as well because Ms. ARISE just gave the best ever answer in the entire history of Ms. Engg. Her question was “How would you like to be saved by your Prince Charming?” She said, “It does not matter how as long as I know he's there I know I'll always be safe” (something like that). The crowd totally lost it after hearing that.

True enough, the Top 2 was down to Ms. Arise and me. Again, everyone was just cheering for Ms. Arise. but fortunately, they announced that the winner was me (no Steve Harvey moment here).

I saw the score breakdown for the Top 5, which confirmed my guess that among the 5, I was the lowest during the pre-pageant, but pageant night, I had high scores. My QA was high as well.

That night was just surreal. Pretty long night, lots of preparation physically and mentally and just the electric vibe of the whole audience. It was an honor to represent my org and give it all my best, whether I won or not. I was just so happy to see the all-out support of my org and other fans I've gained. The crown was just the cherry on top.

Thanks Shukun for your wonderful comments! (BTW, are you from KEM?)

Hope you all liked my experience. Ask me anything you want! I'll drop by this blog from time-to-time.

xoxo,

Ms. Engineering 2011

Wearing Collette

Paula, a British professional femulator in the 1930’s

Non-Civilians in Womanless World

Jasmine Bond commented on my previous post:

“Womanless events was something I never heard of until I've been reading your blog. This concept is somewhat interesting but perplexing and I would like to learn more about them. Without having done the research, it seems like these events were not necessarily pro-trans but a way to exclude women and treat them like second class citizens, an unfortunate dynamic that has been too long a part of our culture. Just as unfortunate, this still exists today with women earning less for the exact same jobs as their male counterparts. While there is a certain appeal for the woman in me in that these events occurred, I also can't help feel that they were a way to suppress women. It's too bad that we don't have events like these that promote trans women and are supported by cis women who would provide education, a loving environment and support to trans women like us. I'd be interested in hearing your take, Stana, on my thoughts.”

I have never attended or participated in a civilian womanless event. However, I have seen countless videos and thousands of photos documenting womanless beauty pageants, weddings, fashion shows, etc.

I am of two minds regarding womanless events.

The Bad

I hate the way some of the participants parody women. Shaking their asses, flaunting their boobs and in general, acting like boobs is disrespectful of women. Is that how they think their wives, mothers and sisters act?

I find it difficult to believe that any wife or mother would be OK with their husband or son acting that way. The audiences seem to be very amused by the antics of some of the participants, which doesn’t say much for how the audience respects women, too.

By the way, the younger the womanless participant, the more respectful they seem to be. Grammar school “girls” are well-behaved ladies compared to their middle and high school sisters.

The Good

Womanless events give non-civilians an opportunity to express their feminine side in public with a safety net – the safety net being the event itself where it is OK for guys to be girls temporarily.

I recall my high school’s basketball team crossdressing to perform in my school’s annual Irish Minstrel. I was so jealous and wished I had the opportunity to do the same in public with some kind of safety net. If my school had a womanless event, I believe that I would have mustered the courage to be a participant and I feel that most non-civilians would be similarly inclined.

Womanless events have their good side and their bad side. Does the bad side outweigh the good side? I dunno, but from the perspective of a non-civilian, I believe I would put up with the bad to take advantage of the good.

Source: WhoWhatWear

Austin High School, Decatur, Alabama, 1985

As I wrote in my previous post, I killed my flickr account (for economic reasons). Besides a handful of personal photos, the account also included thousands of photos from womanless events that Starla culled from school yearbooks. 

To make up for that loss, I decided to feature some of Starla’s photos in this new “Not a Civilian?” slot. 

During the next 25 posts, I intend to sort through all of the photos in alphabetical order (alphabetized by school name) and each day, feature the “girl” who in my humble opinion, is most likely not a civilian (just like you and me). Boys who dress up as girls on Halloween get 2 bonus points and boys who attend proms en femme get 5 bonus points. On the other hand, boys with leg hair, lose 2 points and boys with facial hair lose 10 points.

Kicking off “Not a Civilian?” with the letter A is the lovely Johnny McLemore from Austin High in Decatur, Alabama.

I Killed My Friend flickr

A femulator at Hanford High School
(Richland, WA) in 1981 

I killed my flickr account.

Because of the vast quantity of images I had posted on flickr, I needed a “Pro” account, which only cost $25 per year when I signed up for it back in 2015. Last year, the price increased to $50 per year.

Friday, I received a PayPal receipt indicating that flickr was now charging $7 per month ($84 per year). That was the last straw and I killed my Pro account as quick as a Playboy bunny.

I actually had only a few dozen personal photos on the site, but I also had nearly 5,000 photos of womanless events that Starla culled from online high school yearbooks. I hope to find a new, less expensive home for those images real soon now.

Source: Beyond the Rack

A womanless wedding, circa 1910, put on by the Boys Club in Waterbury, Connecticut. Not the greatest femulations, but I am posting the image for two reasons: (1) Waterbury is my hometown and (2) womanless weddings in Connecticut were rare – in fact, this is the only Connecticut womanless wedding I am aware of.

Guilt-Free Guilty Pleasure

Couples going out with both the male and female
dressed en femme is becoming more common

In yesterday’s post, I mentioned that womanless beauty pageants have increased in quantity in recent years. I could attribute that to the popularity of this blog, but I won’t! 😁

But I do attribute the increased occurrences of womanless pageants to the increased popularity of crossdressing.

Fifty years ago, when I was squeezing into my mother’s panty girdle, I had no idea why I was doing it except (1) that I liked it and (2) I better keep it to myself because I might get run out of town on a rail if it got around that I was dressing pretty.

Today, crossdressers, drag artists and transwomen are in the news and the media like never before. And the Internet is awash with crossdressing. As a result, crossdressing has become more acceptable and except in some political and so-called “Christian” circles, crossdressing is no longer an abomination. Rather, it has become a guilty pleasure without the guilt to be enjoyed whenever the mood strikes you.

So-inclined males see crossdressing everywhere and feel encouraged to try it themselves. I don’t have to tell you that once you dress pretty, you never want to dress any other way if you can help it.

Never before have so many males been so open about crossdressing... especially young males. They crossdress with great abandon and don’t care who knows it. And that encourages other males who may have been on the cusp, to try it themselves. And on and on and on.

And the popularity of womanless pageants is a by-product of the acceptance and popularity of crossdressing.

Wearing Boston Proper

Professional femulator Danny La Rue, circa 1965

No Girls Allowed

Seems to me that there are now more womanless beauty pageants than ever. In the past, most of them were put on by high schools and civic organizations trying to raise funds for one thing or another. And most of them occurred in the southern USA.

Today, they are being put on by grammar schools, middle schools, high schools and colleges everywhere, not only in the southern USA. And when I say “everywhere,” I mean in other countries as well as throughout the USA.

Not only has the quantity of the pageants increased, but the quality of the pageants has improved, too. Some of the faux girls are drop dead gorgeous. Kudos to the moms and sisters who do their sons’ and brothers’ makeup and hair and lend them their evening gowns and cocktail dresses.

And the way the faux girls expertly walk in high heels makes one wonder how long they have been practicing. Do their stage mothers force their sons to practice weeks in advance of the pageant date?

And it makes one also wonder how many faux girls continue femulating after the pageant?

Wearing Lemoniade

This image has been labeled a “womanless beauty pageant” photo on various websites, but I believe it is a Halloween photo with the participants dressed as characters from The Hunger Games. Whether the participant on the left is a male or a female has yet to be determined. If anyone can shed a light on that mystery, I’d appreciate hearing from you.